Figure 6.

MinE inhibited MinC–MinD copolymer formation. A–D, EM images of copolymers with or without MinE. 10 μm MinD plus 5 μm MinC assembles into copolymers and bundles in the presence of 1 mm ATP without MinE (A), but 15 μm MinE completely blocked the assembly (B). 10 μm MinD, 5 μm MinC, and 5 μm FtsZ assembles into large bundles in the presence of 1 mm ATP and GTP without MinE (C), but the bundles are completely blocked by 15 μm MinE (D). The remaining thin filaments are identified as FtsZ protofilaments. E, light-scattering measurements show that MinE disassembles preformed MinC–MinD copolymers. Bar represents 200 nm.